Article transferring mechanism



Jan. 22, 1946. A. J. LlPPoLD 2,393,389

ARTICL TRNSFERRING MECHANISM Original Filed Feb. 23, 1935 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 IN VEN TOR. BY MJL 9.40m M' MAFTURNEYS.

Jan. 22, 1946. A. J. LlPPoLD v ARTICLE TRANSFERRING MECHANISM s Sheets-sheet 2 Original` Filed Feb. 23., 1955 INVENTOR.l

vb ATTORNEYS.

Jan. 22, 1946` n A. l.1. LIPPOLD 2,393,389

I ARTICLE TRANSFERRING MECHANISM original Filed Feb. 25, 1935 s sheets-sheet s "II mu Z UHkMllnunmw l 1f' l N W" al Kw ATTORNEYS.

Patented Jan. 22, 1946 o time@ c ,Angina J, timaLMnwaukee, .nia i@ Cherryvurrlell" Q/erporation, Wilmington, De!!! Original application February' 2-3, 19357, Seril- No.` 97,742 Divided-and this application J anary 3*, 1938-', Serial No; 182,992 f Y zfclanis- 01- 22a-.iii

This,v invention relates 'to improvements? iin are ticle transferring :nfiechariisinr More`V partieiarly this invention relates to rotary type bottle fill-ing and capping machines in which the Al-llihi cap'- pingl and transferring v`me'chanisms are svinmetrically arranged to facilitate vcllianging of? the machine from a; rglhthand to a l'eftliand type machine and in which -thef llingi-,lcapping and transferring mechanisms fare accurately SYD.- chrnized their relativel motions. Inl thel rotary type' of: bottle? fillers and cappei'fs" now available; substantial alterations c'f-the mach-ine are re; quired' -tochange the same vfrein `a; rignthandto a iefthandmachine and the presently avaiiaiiie machines, in'y which the synchronizationfof the iillingg. capping' and transferr-ingi` mechanisms is necessary,Ay often become unsyncl'ironi-Zedas' the VFvarious.' driving elements ofthe' individual'` devices forming a; Apari; ofthe machine become' worn through normal usage of the mechanism This application Tis a division of application Serial No. 75.42,.. led February 23,-y 1935,l entitled Bottle lling mechanism, 'on which Uni-ted States' Patent No. 2,122,149 has been granted.`

The presently" described ,and Lclaimed aspect'. of the invention relates to atransferringl mechanism of general application exemplifiedy in the :bottle handling par-ts .ofa bottle'iillerfandi .cap-per. The' aspect of .the invention' relating? to the infeed gate orv throat, particularly diseloseiil'in'y Figure 2', is described and Vclaimeclr ina cor-pendingapplica;Y` tion which is a division of thisapplicati'on; iled November .4, 1940, hearingflserial No; 364,145,;nw Patent Number 2,30.0298,.f,datedzzolctober 271, 119,42.

. It .is the primary object of the' invention to2 provide a. novel, simple;l and reversible'. arrangement for' the.'ruse of av single'` conveyor .feeding- .ar t'icl'es,v such as empty bottles, toeandfrecei-ving arl-y t-icles, such: asulll bottles, .from stations', such a a-'hottle iilling andi cappin'glmachine. y

More specically' stated, it isi an object of the invention -t'oiprovide improved oreanizationzof several tables andv star--wheel's' withv reference to the infee'ding and outfee'ding conveyor and thev work' guidesv so that the' movement 'of thevork is'lfacilitated', stoppage and breakage-'areavoidedg andsothatcertain parts are Apreferably inter` changeable to adapt the machine-,for righthandorlefthandoperation.

A further object of the' present invention :isA to provide' aldrivingi mechanism in a rotary :type bottle fillingA and.' capping machine in which-thev perfect timingoff ther rotary! lling table;A the' rotary capping? tablei and` thefintermediate rotary' transferring? mechanism is securedrland main;

tained by the employment of? eomn'ion' 'meansi such as a chain, for the driving of all' of the individu'a'l Vinech'arfiis'rx'is from a- "single source of power ancient, upon the normai wearin of the driYl E elelets 'for tHe individual dfeve, the sl'elc o r excessive logischesswilly automatically absorbed btlfe autimatic'tightening` of the single Y any gf thereby maintaining .perfect syncnrcpisiii ci: me inteiedpactmeeiemenis. s

fr stili' further inject c'fzthf present invention @"pfvid ai ttle li'g Sind'wappi'g m'achn in which'Y apo on of a single flight 'of a c'ntinii'- ous-conveyor n'y bei-used a's'the supply conveyor whjiie the' remaining pensin f tnesingief nicht ci .the cenveyof ymay b'e usede as thedischaree conveyor; in which thebottle receiving', .titans xferring anddisharge xnechanlsniso the" bottle iiller and vcapperi are arranged' symmetrically with the'p'ottlef filling' and: capping` devices; `in` which the single conveyor arrangedtan'gentially tothe y rans'fr' mechanismsiard ih hicii'tlicappih'g' echarii' which also ccfirif prises one@ of tli'e tfansferriig' mechanisms; may be' ii'trchangblv positioned .upon 'the' `lease f 25 the hottie iilei'fl and capper withoutv altering the symmetrical-arrangement of .the'bottl filling iiieoni ecappine mechanismendiheftari; ous .transfo mechanisns so as to1 perniitf the ready' interchange' 'ofthe combined mechanisms Other important obje'cts and Afeatur'sf .ofy this inventionf' will" become-more apparent iipon exaniiinati'on of` lth'eiietails of construction, asE closed-in rthe-aceon ipanying drawings, allof which Willi he* lirst fully described' and `then lspecifically pointed-2 out ini theappendeil claims, reference being, made? from' time" to'tirne tothe drawings in Whiichfz' .Y

Figure' 1' is a'iview of the ini-proved machineV as it' appears ypzalz'tiailyy in sidevv .elevation and .partally broken 1away to a longitudinal vertical section.I o v f Figure 2- -i's ai .planview of the device shown in withthe camina head removed andthe milk1 admissionipipecut away.v

Figurey3;is'f.aschematic fplan view ,of itliedriying connections.

Figure .4- is anv enlarged" .detail view in pirSpecz-V tive; showing- :one .of ,the `star wheels' as fuseiipffor transferring Ebottles* from the conveyor turntable to the cal-iper. v

Figure 5"is an eenlarecddetailayiew Iin-Jaxiai `secnon showing the mouhtine'forkthe unloading star wheel Q5 Figure is' an enlareedidetaii view metia-1" Sef' tion showing the mounting for the capping device and its turntable.

The general organization of the machine is the same whether the lling operation is conducted by gravity or by vacuum` This general organization most clearly appears in Figures 1 and 2. In the drawings, in which like'niirneals are used to identify like elements, l5 represents-a base housing the driving connections and preferably supported by suitable legs. base is the bearing I6 for theturntable l1 which carries the individual work supports and the table of the filling mechanism hereinafter `to scribed by Way of illustration. 1 'Y v At one corner of the other end of the base l is a bearing I8 for the capper turntable I9, which At one end of that Cir be deis also provided with bottle 'supports andf is assembled on a shaft which carries a conventhe shaft by means of a screw 22 journaled in'an arm at the top of the shaft and the nut 23 carried bythe capper head.y f

Spaced above the hollow base l5, at the level of the lower bottle supports, is a table 25 across which'the bottles are loaded, unloaded, and transferred between the filling and capping mechanisms.` A single conveyor 26 is flush with the edge of the table and serves to supply empty bottles and remove filled bottles from the machine. It operates tangentiallywith reference to the loading star wheel 21 and the unloading star wheel 28. The `transfer star wheel isshown at 29.` A suitablebottle guide member 3i!y of the form clearly indicated in Figure 2 vhas surfaces concentricY with the axes of each of Vthe three star Wheels to co-operate therewith in guiding the movement of bottles. i

It is to be noted that the machine is assembled symmetrically with reference to a longitudinal center line through the turntableA of the ller. This makes it possible readily to convert themachine for either right or lefthand operation. The capper may be interchanged with the idler pulley shown at 12 v(Figures 2 and 3); the conveyor 26 may-,be moved to cut across the lower corner rather thanthe upper corner as viewed in kFigure` 2; and the star Wheels may simplybe inverted upon 'their respective shafts Yto adapt them for operation in the other direction, the motor and its bracket being transferred to the other side of the base for such operation. y

Throat mechanism is. preferably provided to guide the bottles from the conveyor onto the table, 2.5.a'nd within the interdental pockets of the star wheel 21. In the Aabsence of ang appropriate throat mechanism the tip ofa 'star wheel tooth willoccasionally engage the side of a bottle under substantially balanced conditions of pressure so thatthe bottle will be held to the guide rail or fence .without tending to move either forwardly orrearwardly thereon. Ultimately it may either be crushed or may cause breakage of the machine ormay snap from its position with such force as to break itself or other bottles. In order to guard against these contingencies :and at the same time to provide a throat which .is adjustable for handling bottles of diering sizes, the mechanism shown in Figure 2 is employed, which is particularly described' and claimed in the co-pending application which is a division of this application as previously identified. Y Fixed vertical pins are provided at 260, 267| and 2'62. The arm 263, which has spaced bottle engaging portions at 264 and 265 and an intervening depression, is ulcrumed upon Dill 26|.' The of arm 263 and in sliding connection with the iitting 28| which is located at the end of wall 26. As the bottle passes around the head 264 of thepiv-oted arm 263 the lateral motion given to it will beinma; direction opposite to that of the adjacent portions' of the star wheel. The bottle will be thrust toward one of the star wheel pockets on a path suchlthat it will be difcult, if not impossible, for the bottle to be caught by the end of the star wheel tooth. The arm 263 is yieldable under the thrust of the compression spring 266 about its pivot 26| andthis yielding movement is such that it will not only relieve a bottle of pressure but will tend to assure its rmzengagement in the pocket. As the star wheel rotates, any bottle which might be caught on the head portion 264 of the armv 263 will be pushed from said head portion into the adjacent recess in the arm and its slight 'advance will relieve the pressure momentarily and seat the bottlein the star wheel pocket in its proper position. It is the function of the second projection 21554 on arm 25.3 to make sure that the bottle remains in the 'pocket when it is delivered by the star wheel against the guide arm 261 which terminates ush with the guide member 3 referred to above.

Guide arm 2-61 is likewise pivotally mounted, being carried on fulcrum pin 260 and provided with a projecting nger at 266 engaged by compression spring 263 which, like compression spring 266, is on rod 210.

Carried by the fixed pin 26| is aboss 21| rin which is threaded a screw 212 turned by crank 213. This crank vis fixed in an adjusting lever 214 so that the rotationcof the crank .will oscillate the adjusting lever about the fixed pin 260. This adjusting lever has an. arm 215 carrying the spring guide rod' 210 and another arm '2116. .which is mounted onrod `211 inv engagement with the compression spring 218 by means of which its motion is yieldably transmitted to the throat member 280 mounted on fulcrum pin 262.

It will be apparent that when it is desired to adjust the machine to handle small bottles and to constrict the feeding throat accordingly, the crank 213 may be turned ina direction to move lever 214 counter-clockwise about fulcrum pin 260, thereby lswinging arm 215 in a direction to push the spring: guide'ro'd 210 downwardly to the left as viewed in rFigure By increasing the kcompression on spring 2'66 'and correspondingly increasing the compression on spring 269, this movement of the spring'guide rod will result in shifting inwardlyv the freeends of lever arm 263 and guide arm261 While at4 the same time shifting inwardly the free end of the throat member 280 on` the opposite side of the conveyor;` A reverse movement of the screw will adjust the parts in an opposite direction; I

When the machine is changed over to a lefthand machine the lixifeed .gatefmechanismyor throat mechanism, as above described, must be reconstituted to function inyits vnew position. As to a few of the parts new castings aresubstituted, but the majority'of the parts mayibe usedby simply inverting themv uponftheir respective pivot aosta .whereupon .they wiliiuatian new position in aimaaaer commanding te that, above general. elisan-izationabcre deserbedmay be: used, without cheese, V`beth:V for gravity .allers In fthe, cenpertumtahle. hen-evening@ is means ier locking .trigeminal-ts elevated mation. and: the completion ai. thev caprins opera-.tien lcweradonee more .to

driving pulley 43 is preferably divided into two parts subject to the compression of a spring 4-4,

.table v12.5.: medisch ged bystarwheell outcome. en fi ai camere: .2li-

3 Eligible .the-.operation of the mehariismlfeaabove previously described, thereby preventing the dewhereby the speed ratio may be varied somewhat by adjusting the motor slide 4| to force the belt 45 to a greater depth between the component parts of the pulley.

The power received by the main drive shaft 41 from pulley 46 is delivered through a worm 66 of worm gear 6| to a vertical shaft l|52 upon which the star wheel 28 is mounted. Angular adjustment of the star wheel on the shaft may be made by loosening the nut 63 which clamps the tapered star wheel hub V|54 between the cones 65 on the shaft. Star wheels 21 and 29 are detachably engaged on pins '65' carried by rotors 66 and 61 respectively, (rotor '66 not shown) which are similarly angularly adjustable on shafts 18 and 14. The freedom with which the star wheels 21 and 29 are detachable from pins 65 enables the operator readily to replace these star Wheels when the machine is to handle a diiferent size of bottle. Each of the star wheels 21 and 2'9 performs a positioning function in properly registering, the bottle on one of the supports by which it is to be lifted. It is not necessary to replace star wheel 28, since this star wheel merely discharges the bottles onto a conveyor on which no particular registration is important.

A single chain 10 (Figure 3) passes about a driving sprocket 1| on the vertical shaft 62 and thence passes over an adjustable idler sprocket 12 and a sprocket 13 on star wheel shaft 14, and a sprocket 15 on main turntable shaft 16, and a sprocket 11 on star wheel shaft 18, and finally over a sprocket 19 on the shaft 20 of the capping turntable. Thus all the vertical shafts are driven by a single chain from the worm gear y6| and shaft 62.

In the above identified parentapplication minute descriptions of various elementsappear and, accordingly, further detailed explanations in this case will not be made of the turntable I1, bottle supports 92 in annular series thereabout, the cam rollers 99, the cams |016 and |08 which act thereon in the lowering of the bottles, and the vacuum filling mechanism including the reservoir |35, the vacuum chamber |44, the filler heads |60, the control valves |62, the vacuum pump |49, and the milk separating and return connections |41, |50, |5| and |52.

The operation of the apparatus may be summarized as follows.

Empty bottles arrive on conveyor 26 and, according to their size, are fed by interchangeable star wheels 21 onto the filler turntable which includes vertically adjustable bottle supports.

After the bottle has been filled the roller 99 of the individual bottle support rides between a pair of lowering cams, and the push rod 96 which controls the supporting clutch is concurrently released to allow the support to move downwardly. When lthe support is moved to the level of the table surface 25 star wheel 29 transfers the bottle from the ller turntable to the capper turntable which has similar supports whereon the individual bottles are successively raised to the cappers.

velopment of any slack motion in the synchronized action of the filling turntable, the bottle capper and the receiving, transferring and discharge star wheels.

In the present invention a bottle filler and capper has been provided in which the bottle filling turntable or sprockets, and the receiving, transferring and discharge star wheels or transfer mechanism are all synchronized in their relative motions and are all symmetrically arranged on the base for the machine so as to be adaptable for use with a single night of conveyor which comprises both the infeed and the discharge conveying mechanisms. v

Due to the symmetrical arrangement of the various elements of the machine as above described, a bottle flller and capper has been provided which may be readily transformed from a lefthand machine to a righthand machine by the mere interchange of the chain idling mechanism and the capping mechanism which are symmetrically'positioned in the base and which, when interchanged, permit the re-arrangement of the supply and discharge conveyor so as to feed bottles to and discharge bottles from the other side of the bottle filling and capping mechanism. All of the bottle lling, capping and transferring mechanisms are individually powered for synchronous operation from a single drive chain whereby, even though the individual elements may wear and the driving chain may also wear, the synchronized operation and timing of the elements is maintained.

In the accompanying drawings the preferred The invention, however, is not to be restricted except in so far as it is necessary in view of the prior art and the spirit of the appended claims.

I claim:

. l. A receptacle handling apparatus comprising the combination with a suitable support and a turntable rotatable thereon, of a pair of star wheels located symmetrically with reference to a radius of said turntable for the loading and unloading of receptacles, driving shafts for said star wheels upon which said star wheels are invertibly mounted to be operative for loading or unloading according to the direction of rotation of the shafts, means in said base for driving said star wheel shafts and turntable, an yoperating sprocket kand an idler sprocket also driven by said means and symmetrically located at opposite sides of said radius and interchangeable with each other, and work-operating mechanism removably mounted on said base and operatively connected with said operating sprocket to be actuated thereby in either position of the sprocket.

2. A receptacle handling apparatus comprising the combination with a suitable support and a receptacle turntable rotatable thereon, of a pair of star wheels located-symmetrically with referlence to a. radius of said turntable for the loading and unloading of receptacles, driving shaftsfor said means and symmetrically located at opposite 10 sides of said radius and interchangeable with each other, -work operating mechanism removably mounted on said base and operatively connected with said operating sprocket to be actuated there- -by in either position of the sprocket, and an unloading star wheel positioned substantially on said radius and arranged to be operated for the unloading of the said mechanism in either of the aforesaid positions of the mechanism.

ADOLPH J. LIPPOLD. 

